초록 ▼

A method and device for individually transporting articles of different type, size, weight, material or shape to one delivery location of a plurality of delivery locations that is designated for the respective article. The articles are placed one by one in respective transport containers, and the re

A method and device for individually transporting articles of different type, size, weight, material or shape to one delivery location of a plurality of delivery locations that is designated for the respective article. The articles are placed one by one in respective transport containers, and the respective article is caused at a desired respective delivery location to be transferred from its transport container to a collecting or storage bin, disintegrator or further conveyor dedicated to the article, the transport container at the designated delivery location being made to discharge the article under the effect of gravity or with the aid of a separate, controlled actuating means. The respective article is identified prior to it being placed in a transport container. Identification may, for example, be related to the material of which the article is made.

대표청구항 ▼

The invention claimed is: 1. A method for individually transporting articles of different type, size, weight, material or shape, to one delivery location of a plurality of delivery locations that is designated for the respective article, comprising: providing a plurality of article transport contai

The invention claimed is: 1. A method for individually transporting articles of different type, size, weight, material or shape, to one delivery location of a plurality of delivery locations that is designated for the respective article, comprising: providing a plurality of article transport containers with a container opening through which an article is discharged, arranging the transport containers to move successively in spaced relationship from each other along all points of a predetermined transport path with the container opening of each container normally positioned in an upwardly facing direction, providing each transport container with a respective axis of rotation, to permit controlled rotation of selected ones of the transport containers, identifying each article as regards its type of material, placing the identified articles one by one in respective transport containers, providing television camera inspection of the articles one by one from a location above the transport path of the articles, establishing via the camera inspection that just one article is placed or is present in a respective dedicated transport container, designating a delivery location for discharge of a contained article from its transport container, causing the respective article at its designated delivery location to be discharged from its transport container to a collecting or storage bin, disintegrator or further conveyor dedicated to the article by rotating the transport container about its axis of rotation in one direction from the normal container position, to beyond the point of article and back discharge to the normal container position without contacting any other container during such rotation to enable said discharge of the article from the container opening to be made under the effect of gravity. 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the transport container at the designated delivery location is made to invert in the course of rotating the container through an angle of 360° about an axis of rotation so as to discharge the single article from the container under the effect of gravity. 3. A method for individually transporting articles of different type, size, weight, material or shape, to one delivery location of a plurality of delivery locations that is designated for the respective article, comprising: providing a plurality of article transport containers with a container opening through which an article is discharged, arranging the transport containers to move successively in spaced relationship from each other along all points of a predetermined transport path with the container opening of each container normally positioned in an upwardly facing direction, providing each transport container with a respective axis of rotation, to permit controlled rotation of selected ones of the transport containers, identifying each article as regards its type of material, placing the identified articles one by one in respective transport containers, designating a delivery location for discharge of a contained article from its transport container, discharging the respective article at its designated delivery location from its transport container to a collecting or storage bin, disintegrator or further conveyor dedicated to the article, said discharging provided by inverting the transport container by rotating the container in one direction through an angle of 360° about its axis of rotation without contacting any other container so as to discharge the single article from the container opening under the effect of gravity. 4. A method for individually transporting articles of different type, size, weight, material or shape, to one delivery location of a plurality of delivery locations that is designated for the respective article, comprising: providing a plurality of article transport containers with a container opening through which an article is discharged, arranging the transport containers to move successively in spaced relationship from each other along all points of a predetermined transport path with the container opening of each container normally positioned in an upwardly facing direction, providing each transport container with a respective axis of rotation, to permit controlled rotation of selected ones of the transport containers, identifying each article, placing identified articles one by one in respective transport containers, designating a delivery location for discharge of a contained article from its transport container, discharging the respective article at its designated delivery location from its transport container to a collecting or storage bin, disintegrator or further conveyor dedicated to the article, said discharging provided by inverting the transport container by rotating the container in one direction through an angle of 360° about its axis of rotation without contacting any other container so as to discharge the single article from the container opening under the effect of gravity, controlling the rotation of the transport container by providing a plurality of guide pins on the container, and a selectively controllable guide flap at the delivery location, and a stationary toothed engaging element at the delivery location, causing an initial turning of the container by engaging at least one of the guide pins, with the selectively controllable guide flap, and causing further controlled rotation of the container by engaging at least one further guide pin on the container with the stationary toothed engaging element at the delivery location. 5. A method according to claim 1, wherein further television camera inspection of the transport containers includes at least one of: i) determining that discharging of an article at designated article delivery location causes the transport container to be fully emptied, ii) determining that the article is not a strange article, and iii) determining that the article is in a unitary state when in its container. 6. A method according to claim 1, wherein said television camera inspection is made from a location above the transport path of the articles. 7. A method according to claim 2, wherein rotation of the transport container is performed in a controllable manner and temporally actuated by force. 8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the transport containers are prevented from rotation in horizontal portions of the circular path, except at the designated article delivery location related to a specific container, by allowing guide pins on both sides of the container to form anti-rotation supports. 9. A method according to claim 2, wherein the rotation of the transport container is controlled by a plurality of guide pins on the container, where at least one of the guide pins, on cooperation with a movable and selectively controllable guide flap mounted at the delivery location, causes an initial turning of the container, and wherein at least one further guide pin on the container in cooperation with a stationary toothed engaging element at the delivery location causes controlled rotation of the container. 10. A method according to claim 1, wherein the articles to be identified, inspected, transported one by one and discharged, are empty packaging units being at least one from the group of cans of metals cans of plastic, bottles of plastic, and bottles of glass. 11. A device for individually transporting articles of different type, size, weight, material or shape to one delivery location of a plurality of delivery locations that is designated for the respective article, comprising: an endless transport path traversing a plurality of delivery locations, a plurality of article transport containers being arranged to move successively in spaced apart relation from each other along all points of the transport path as an endless, moving row of containers, movable past the plurality of delivery locations, means for placing articles, one by one, in respective transport containers, an article recognition means at a first location proximate the transport path for identifying each article as regards its type of material prior to a location at which the articles are to be placed one by one in a respective transport container to yield only one article per container; at least one television camera which is located at a second location proximate the transport path to inspect the articles one by one to establish that just one article is placed or is present in a respective dedicated transport container; a container actuating means for causing removal of an article from its container, mounted at each of said plurality of said delivery locations, respective ones of said actuating means having one state capable of entering into activated position related to a designated delivery location for an identified article, to cooperate with a respective transport container so as to cause removal of the identified article from its container at its designated delivery location, said respective ones of said actuating means having a second state controllable to be in an inactive position to selectively allow a container to pass the delivery location related to said respective actuating means without causing removal of article from container when a container contains an article not designated for delivery thereat; and wherein the transport container at a delivery location designated for an article is arrange to cooperate with a means at the delivery location for emptying the transport container in the course of rotating the container through a 360 degree angle about an axis of rotation thereof so as to discharge the article under the effect of gravity. 12. A device for individually transporting articles of different type, size, weight, material or shape to one delivery location of a plurality of delivery locations that is designated for the respective article, comprising: an endless transport path traversing a plurality of delivery locations, a plurality of article transport containers each having an axis of rotation and an opening through which an article is discharged, and being oriented such that the container opening is normally positioned in an upwardly facing direction, the transport containers being arranged to move successively in spaced apart relation from each other along all points of the transport path as an endless, moving row of containers, movable past the plurality of delivery locations, means for placing articles, one by one in respective transport containers, an article recognition means at a first location proximate the transport path for identifying each article as regards its type of material prior to a location at which the articles are to be placed one by one in a respective transport container to yield only one article per container; a container actuating means for discharging the respective article at its designated delivery location from its transport container to a collecting or storage bin, disintegrator or further conveyor dedicated to the article, said container actuating means for discharging the respective article further including means for causing the transport container to rotate in one direction through an angle of 360° about its axis of rotation, without contacting any other container, so as to discharge the single article from the container opening under the effect of gravity. 13. A device for individually transporting articles of different type, size, weight, material or shape to one delivery location of a plurality of delivery locations that is designated for the respective article, comprising: an endless transport path traversing a plurality of delivery locations, a plurality of article transport containers each having an axis of rotation and an opening through which an article is discharged, and being oriented such that the container opening is normally positioned in an upwardly facing direction, the transport containers being arranged to move successively in spaced apart relation from each other along all points of the transport path as an endless, moving row of containers movable past the plurality of delivery locations, means for placing articles, one by one, in respective transport containers, an article recognition means at a first location proximate the transport path for identifying each article as regards its type of material prior to a location at which the articles are placed one by one in respective transport containers to yield only one article per container; a container actuating means for causing discharge of a respective article at its designated delivery location from its transport container to a collecting or storage bin, disintegrator or further conveyor dedicated to the article, said container actuating means further including means for inverting the transport container by rotating the container in one direction through an angle of 360° about the axis of rotation without contacting any other container so as to discharge the single article from the container opening under the effect of gravity, said container actuating means further including a plurality of guide pins on the container, a movable guide flap at the delivery location movable to an engagement position, and a stationary toothed engaging element at the delivery location for controlling the rotation of the transport container, at least one of the guide pins being engageable with the movable guide flap at the delivery location, when the guide flap is moved to the engagement position to cause an initial turning of the container, and at least one additional guide pin on the container being configured to co-operate with the toothed engaging element at the delivery location to effect further controlled rotation of the transport container. 14. A device according to claim 11, wherein the transport containers have guide pins on both sides of the container which form anti-rotation supports in at least parts of the horizontal portions of the transport path. 15. A device according to claim 11, including a stationary toothed engaging element at each delivery location, wherein a plurality of guide pins are provided on the container for controlling the rotation of the transport container, wherein at least one of the guide pins is arranged, upon cooperation with said actuating means in the form of a moving guide flap located at the delivery location, to cause an initial turning of the container, and wherein at least one additional guide pin on the container is positioned to co-operate with the toothed engaging element to effect controlled rotation of the transport container. 16. A device according to claim 11, wherein said at least one television camera is placed above said transport path of the articles and cooperative with the article recognition means in order to establish at least one of the following further features: discharging of an article at designated article delivery location causes the transport container to be fully emptied, the article is not a strange article, and the article is in a unitary state when in its container. 17. A device according to claim 11, wherein said at least one television camera is linked to the article recognition means to provide inspection of the articles from a location above the transport path of the articles. 18. A device according to claim 11, wherein the article recognition means, the camera and the containers are configured to identify, inspect, and transport and discharge, respectively empty packaging units being at least one from the group of: cans of metal, cans of plastic, bottles of plastic, and bottles of glass. 19. A device according to claim 11, wherein the containers include a pair of bearing pins and a pair of chains or lines are provided to drive the containers through the transport path, said pair of chains or lines interacting with two pulling, rigidly interconnected, powered drive wheels around which the chains or lines are partly run; guide wheels for guiding movement of the chains or lines along the transport path, wherein the chains or lines include opposite pairs of holders that successively cooperate with corresponding recesses in respective guide wheels for synchronous movement of said chains or lines; and wherein selected opposite pairs of said holders provide support for the pair of bearing pins on the containers.